Late 1980s–mid 1990s: Early career and group's breakthrough Emerging as a member of Ice-T's group Rhyme Syndicate, Everlast's 1990 debut album
Forever Everlasting was a commercial disappointment. Following the album's failure, Everlast teamed up with fellow
Taft High alumni
DJ Lethal and
Danny Boy to form the hip-hop trio
House of Pain. The album was also embraced critically, especially by
Rolling Stone, whose review placed the album between "good" and "great", with it being focused as that month's most important release.
Feud with Eminem That year, a
feud erupted between Everlast and
Eminem. Eminem and Everlast crossed paths before a
concert in early 1999. Eminem says he did not greet Everlast because he did not recognize him right away, and said Everlast did not acknowledge him. Everlast's version is that he tried to congratulate Eminem on his success, and Eminem blew him off. Everlast's verse from the
Dilated Peoples all
star track "Ear Drums Pop (Remix)" contained a thinly
veiled reference to Eminem ("Cock my
hammer,
spit a
comet like Haley/I buck a .380 on ones that act
shady"), and went on to warn "You might catch a beatdown out where I come from" in his recounting of the incident. Eminem, in turn, blasted Everlast several times in public and with the song "I Remember (Dedication to Whitey Ford)" released as the B-side to his group
D12's 12" vinyl single "Shit on You". Everlast responded with the track "Whitey's Revenge", released only on his official website. While the song contained references to Eminem's strained relationships with his wife and mother, it was "Better run and check your kid for your DNA", again referring to Eminem's daughter, Hailie Jade Mathers, that set Eminem off. The track ends with the spoken words, "I ain't wasting no more time with you man. Fuck that shit, That's it". Eminem and D12 responded with "Quitter", the second half of which is a take off on "
Hit 'Em Up" by
2Pac and the
Outlawz (a diss song mainly aimed at
The Notorious B.I.G.). The track ends with the spoken words, "Fuck him, that's it, I'm done, I promise, I'm done, that's it." It was reported that long-time friends of Eminem, group
Limp Bizkit, were meant to be featured on "Quitter", but
Fred Durst canceled at the last moment. Everlast echoed similar sentiment on the status of this feud, stating in various interviews that he felt everything had been said and he would now refrain from further responses. However, following Eminem's disses towards them on "Quitter",
Evidence of Dilated Peoples responded with the track "Search 4 Bobby Fisher". During a
Total Request Live interview, DJ Lethal, who had since joined Limp Bizkit, made a statement that if Mathers and Schrody were to fight in real life, Everlast would win. This irked Eminem, and an insulting track aimed at both Everlast and Limp Bizkit appeared on D12's mainstream debut, ''
Devil's Night, as a hidden track called "Girls". B-Real of Cypress Hill claimed that Everlast recorded another diss towards Eminem following the release of "Quitter", but it went unreleased due to him deciding to instead quash the feud. According to Eminem, their fight has settled since then and there is a mutual respect between Mathers and Schrody. Further indicating an end to lyrical hostilities between the two, Eminem seemingly gave a shout out to Everlast on The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' song entitled "Baby".
2002–present: Subsequent success After the sale of the Tommy Boy Records' catalog of master tapes to
Warner Bros. Records and its metamorphosis to a dance music label in 2002, Everlast was without a label, but in 2003 he signed with
Island/Def Jam. His fourth solo album,
White Trash Beautiful (2004), was subsequently released after almost a four-year hiatus. Produced by Everlast and Dante Ross and featuring a lead single of the same name,
White Trash Beautiful was described as an "effective mix of hip-hop trope and bluesy strum." In early 2006, Everlast teamed up with his former
House of Pain mates
DJ Lethal and
Danny Boy to join the hip-hop group
La Coka Nostra. The group first came to be due to the former House of Pain hype man Danny Boy starting the group as a collective with rappers
Slaine and Big Left (who has since left the group). Soon after the group started
Ill Bill of a now disbanded
Non Phixion and Everlast joined the group. Their first known song was "Fuck Tony Montana" which features
B-Real of
Cypress Hill and
Sick Jacken. Due to the popularity of the song online, the group released several more online for free. In 2007, Everlast was chosen to do the theme song for the TV show
Saving Grace. The song plays during the show's main title sequence, and was originally released to digital outlets only; however, it was also included on Everlast's fifth solo album,
Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford. The album was released on September 23, 2008, on Everlast's own record label Martyr Inc, with distribution by Hickory Records/Sony/ATV Music Publishing. (It was revealed through diditleak.co.uk that the album leaked out early on Friday August 29.) A second single and video, "Letter Home From the Garden of Stone", was released for free download from martyr-inc.com in December 2007. The third single, a cover of
Johnny Cash's "
Folsom Prison Blues", was released to download on August 19. The music video for "Stone in My Hand" debuted on the Martyr Inc. website on October 28, 2008 making it the fourth video for the album. La Coka Nostra’s debut album,
A Brand You Can Trust, was released on July 14, 2009. The album features guests like
Snoop Dogg,
B-Real,
Bun B,
Immortal Technique,
Sick Jacken, and
Q-Unique.
La Coka Nostra then joined the likes of
Nas and
Ill Bill's brother
Necro on
Rock the Bells. In October 2011, his sixth solo album,
Songs of the Ungrateful Living, was released through Martyr Inc. in partnership with
EMI. Produced by Everlast in collaboration with DJ Lethal,
Fredwreck and
Darius Holbert, the album featured the lead single "I Get By". Like
Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford, a number of tracks on
Songs of the Ungrateful Living contained overtly political and social themes. Everlast left the group in 2012 in order to attend to his daughter's medical issues. In 2013, Everlast and Eminem were featured on a Busta Rhymes track together. Starting in 2017, joining with
Divine Styler and
Sick Jacken, Everlast released a Warporn mixtape. On September 7, 2018, Everlast's seventh studio album ''Whitey Ford's House of Pain'' was released. ==Personal life==